


all you knead is love

by belgianquaffle



Series: they say home is where the heart is but god i love the english [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bakery and Coffee Shop, Community: HPFT, F/M, Meet-Cute, au of my own damn fic, but you dont have to read that first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 03:13:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belgianquaffle/pseuds/belgianquaffle
Summary: Law school was going to kill Louis until he finds the cute little bakery with the even cuter owner."louis the law student, maeve the baker meet-cute au of my own fic"- me, twitter





	all you knead is love

_Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie_

Professor Covington was a right jackass.

Lou was sure of this fact. Who in their right mind designed an exam where _the average_ was a 48? A _P_ average? Absurd.

This contracts class was going to be the death of him.

To counter his slow death from this class, his mother suggested consistent treats. She'd been, uhh...unreceptive...to his joke about meeting up with a new girl after each exam, but he thinks she'll appreciate that he stopped at this little bakery to buy himself something sweet.

Crumbles. It even has a cute little name.

The little bell above the door dings as Lou enters.

And he's suddenly wonderstruck, unable to stop himself from staring at the beautiful blonde behind the counter.

Lou is part veela; he's used to people trailing off mid-sentence or stopping everything they're doing to stare in awe.

Until now, he's never understood _why_.

"Hi!" The girl says, all bubbly and smiley. "Welcome to Crumbles!"

And Lou is pretty sure he loves her already.

"Are you going to come in?" There's a laughing, amused smile on her face and it's only then that Lou realizes he hasn't moved a step past the front door.

Right, Inside. Because Lou's still standing at the entrance staring like a dumbass. "Yes," He says slowly. Merlin, that wasn't any better. "Coming in,"

"Can I get you a drink?" She offers. "I don't have anything stronger than coffee, even if you do look like you could use a nice pour of whiskey,"

Holy fuck she's even more perfect than Lou thought.

"Coffee's fine," Lou blinks, realizing he's finally put together (and verbalized) a legitimate and coherent thought. Two full words. Good work, kid.

Another beautiful, beaming smile as she gets to work behind the counter, steaming milk for whatever coffee she's making for him, and Lou decides it's time to make his move.

At least, his move forward into this bakery where hopefully he won't embarrass himself any further.

There are a few mismatched small tables set up inside the shop, but the focus of the store is definitely the large counter and the two large display cases on either side of it. Lou approaches and takes a seat at one of the metal stools closest to the cash register-it's currently empty, so he doesn't feel bad for trying to monopolize the cute girl's attention.

She places a mug in front of him, still smiling (does she smile that way _all the time_, Lou is so impressed). "Is there anything else I can get for you today?"

And, well, he did come in from something sweet, and all jokes to his mother aside, he does not intend to bring this girl home. "What do you recommend?"

She smiles at him. It's a little more gentle, but just as beautiful. "I have just the thing."

Lou grins. "Perfect,"

As she reaches for something under the far case, Lou settles in, reaching for the coffee and taking a sip...

It's fucking awful. He does his best not to pull a face, schooling it to neutral as she looks over at him. "Everything alright?"

"Perfect," He lies, taking another sip.

Merlin, it's just as awful. He looks around at the empty shop, regretting ordering anything further. Oh Merlin, the emptiness is making sense now. Maybe he can make up an excuse about needing to get home, so he won't have to lie about how the dessert tastes...

"Here you are!" The girl chirps happily, and Lou looks up, immediately losing himself in her beautiful brown eyes. She places a plate in front of him, a large chocolate chip cookie filling most of the small plate.

"Thanks," Lou says, hopelessly resigning himself to eating this cookie, no matter how... "Holy fuck!" He exclaims. He breaks off another piece, popping it into his mouth. "This is amazing!"

It...it is everything the coffee is not. It is absolutely delicious, perfectly cooked and re-warmed; somehow both salty and sweet as something chocolate-y and melty oozes out of the center.

The girl smiles as a light blush spreads across her cheeks. "Thank you,"

"What is this?" Lou practically demands, as he tries not to devour the rest of it in one bite.

"A nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookie with sea salt sprinkled on top,"

"You should sell these things!" Lou blurts out. "Shit," He adds, immediately after, when she laughs.

"Funny enough," She dead pans. "I do,"

Lou nods. "That is...that is good for me," Holy shit, what is he doing here. With each stupid thing he says, he thanks Merlin a little more that his friends aren't here to see him make a fool of himself. They'd never let him live it down. "I'll be stopping by after every contracts exam at this rate,"

"I love new customers!" She beams. "Where do you go to school?"

Lou freezes. How does he tell this Muggle that he goes to Wizard law school? "I go to law school," He responds, which is totally not an answer to her question at all, but thankfully, she just points in the opposite direction.

"Right down the street?" Lou nods, because it's not technically a lie; it's just not the whole truth. His school _is sort of_ just down the street from here-it's just hidden by a secret entrance in a side alley, where the entrance to Lachman's Alley, the Wizarding Business and Finance District, happens to be located. "That's amazing! You-" She cuts off abruptly.

"Go on," He encourages.

She blushes. "I was going to say, you look a little young to be in law school already,"

The smile freezes on his face. Being a wizard has never been such an inconvenience to him before. "Oh you know. Baby face. Skipped a year. Good genes."

Thankfully, she laughs at his panic answer. "Well, baby face, hope to see you around?"

"Lou," He corrects, hoping to nip that one in the bud _real fast_. He absolutely does not want this girl having that connection in her brain.

"Lou," She grins. "I'm Maeve,"

Lou returns the smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Maeve. Looking forward to seeing you soon,"

* * *

_Caramel Apple Cupcake_

Lou doesn't make it a week before he's back in the bakery after class and he doesn't even have an exam. He's not even going to lie to himself; it's entirely because he wants to see Maeve again.

He's already halfway to the bakery before he realizes that she may not even be there. Is she...is she even working today?

That's a possibility he should have thought this through more. But he's a Gryffindor for a reason so he's committed to this plan no matter what.

There's a blonde head ducked in the counter and Lou feels the grin grow on his face as he steps inside. "Hello!" He greets cheerfully.

"Hi!" The blonde stands up and Lou freezes. It's not the same voice and now that she's standing, he realizes that the hair's a bit lighter-like it's been bleached, not the natural color Maeve's looks like. She's a little shorter too, he thinks?

She's staring at him, making no moves to welcome him any further, and Lou pauses, because this is not the blonde he came in to see and this one seems to be quite a bit less welcoming. "Uhh."

He's saved, when Maeve comes out the back. "Lizzie, who was-oh!" She smiles. "Hello,"

Lou beams. "Hello," He steps forward. "I warned you I'd be back,"

Maeve laughs; it covers her co-worker's snicker. "You did,"

Lou steps forward to the counter, sets his backpack on the ground in front of him and takes a seat on one of the stools. "So tell me what's good today,"

Instead of telling, Maeve reaches in the case and pulls out a cupcake. "We've started rotating in some fall things,"

The cupcake in his hands looks and smells delicious. It's some kind of spice cake topped with a caramel sauce and then a little dollop of what smells like caramel icing. He takes a bite. "Oh Merlin," She gives him a look and he realizes abruptly what he's just said. He rushes to continue. "There are apples in this!"

"Is that bad?" Maeve looks panicked.

"No!" He assures her. "It's amazing! I wasn't expecting there to be _actual_apples in it!"

Maeve smiles. "Thanks," He finishes the whole cupcake in three bites and she looks at him amusedly. "I take it you liked it?"

He grins. "What else have you got?"

She laughs. "Coffee and cheesecake coming right up,"

The coffee is still terrible but the cheesecake is just as delicious as everything else in the case. He can live with this compromise.

* * *

_Creme Brulee Cookie Bars_

It's week five (that would be five in a row, despite the teasing he's taking from all his family and friends) and Lou's frequency of visits to Crumbles (or more accurately, to see Maeve) are rapidly increasing. He defends himself, saying it's a good place to study, and that he gets to try the treats while he's there, but that only brings on more jokes and all kinds of innuendos from his best friends.

He even think he's starting to like her coffee at this point. (It pairs well enough with his current favorite dessert-the creme brulee cookie bars-that you can barely even taste how bad it is.)

At any rate, he loves her company, how she stands on the other side of the counter working on pastry designs and flavor combinations while he sits on his side of the counter working through readings, how they slowly get to know each other over those five weeks, how genuinely _nice _she is. It's so refreshing to sit and talk with someone and learn all about them, someone who doesn't already know everything about him (or at least, _thinks_ they know everything about him) and is asking questions in return.

If he wasn't in love with her the day he walked in here, he definitely is now.

His hands are in his hair, messing it up horribly, but this reading is absolutely insane. A new plate slides in front of him (blessedly filled with a fresh creme brulee cookie bar) and he looks up to see Maeve smiling at him. "You looked like you needed it."

"Thanks," He smiles. It'll help, at least decrease some of his frustration, but he's pretty sure it's her smile that instantly eases the tension inside him.

"What's giving you such a headache?"

He looks down at his computer. There's no way to tell her he's reading about a landmark case about breaking the Statue of Secrecy, not without breaking the Statue himself and this certainly wouldn't qualify as one of the exceptions set by this very case. "Just a lot of long words," She laughs. "What are you working on?"

"Christmas pastries,"

He grins. "Do you need a taste-tester?"

She laughs. He'd learned only last week that she designs and bakes all the baked goods at this bakery that had been her grandparents until they'd decided they were too old to do the baking themselves. "Don't you want to be surprised?"

He shrugs. "You surprise me everyday,"

It was true. Just yesterday, she'd dropped the most epic comeback on him and he choked on his (terrible) coffee and the day before, he'd learned she _did_actually use the work "fuck," which up until then, he'd been sure wasn't even in her vocabulary.

She blushes. It's the _prettiest_ pink, the same color as her lips (so, so, _so_ soft looking) and he wants to touch her cheek so badly to see how warm it is. "Have to keep you on your toes," She says, looking back down to her sketchbook.

She certainly does.

* * *

_Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies_

It shouldn't be a surprise, because despite being the two most private people on the planet about their own shit(even with their own friends, thanks for sharing that you _finally_ got together three months after it happened, guys), James Potter and Carson Wood have no respect for boundaries when it comes to other people.

So it shouldn't be a surprise at all, but somehow it is, when Lou walks into Crumbles one afternoon to find his cousin and roommate leaning over the counter chatting with Maeve while said cousin's girlfriend looks on with her usual bored expression.

"What the hell?" He blurts out, before he can help himself.

"Hey Lou," James doesn't even turn around to greet him, barely interrupts his conversation, before he's back to chatting with Maeve.

Lou practically _leaps_ forward-it's time to shut this shit down _fast_\- but Carson's arm links with his before he can get to James. "Lou!" She greets him with a hug. "Haven't seen you in ages!"

He stares her down. "We live together."

"And yet," She says coolly, eyes flickering around the bakery. "My statement stands,"

Lou is never going to win a staring contest with Carson Wood. She rivals James, a _professional Quidditch player_, for how competitive she is. So instead, he focuses on something else. "What are you guys doing here?"

"It's a free country," Carson says.

"Screw that, this isn't America," He takes the shot at her native country.

She fires back. "Pretty sure it still applies here," She lets go of his arm, stepping around him to James. "So Lou, what's good here?"

"You leaving," He's going to pay for that one.

"You always did have bad taste," Carson chirps and he glares as James merely looks into the case and orders a Peppermint Crunch donut.

"That's not on your diet," Lou fires at him. If going for Carson isn't going to work, going for James may, and he might as well go for the jugular. Carson may still eat whatever she wants, but James had cut back _dramatically_ once he'd made the jump to professional Quidditch from school, realizing very quickly he'd need more substantial food to fuel him. It wasn't uncommon at all to find him looking longingly at something in the cabinets that was deemed too unhealthy.

But Lou doesn't even get the momentary pause he was hoping for. "It's my cheat day,"

Well shit.

Maeve keeps the smile on her face as she serves him the donut and looks at Carson. "I'll take whatever you have that has the most calories," Carson looks at the case thoughtfully.

"Don't make this about you," James shakes his head. "We're here for Lou, not your mum issues,"

"I can multi-task," Carson says, pointing at a cookie dough cupcake. "Support local business AND Lou. Eat a delicious looking cupcake AND stick it to my mom for telling me I was "looking heavy.""

Yeah, Lou needs to shut this down _now_. As much as he can't stand Carson's mum, this was _not_ a topic of discussion he'd planned on introducing Maeve to this early.

Maybe ever, if he was honest. You can totally hide the girl you end up marrying from all your friends, right?

James has that familiar look on his face that he gets whenever Carson's mum comes up-like he wants to straight up murder someone but also wrap Carson in a hug and never let her go- and Lou is pretty sure the look is mirrored in his own face, along with a huge spike of panic in his urge to get them the hell out.

"You've got your cupcake," Lou says and then desperately grabs at the one thing he knows will make the two of them leave. "Let's grab some cookies and go see Meg,"

"Chocolate crinkle?"

"Gingerdoodles," Lou bargains.

"Cranberry orange shortbread,"

"Fine." He looks at Maeve, who's already boxing up a bundle. "How much do I-?"

"Just add it to mine," James slides a credit card across the counter. "Thanks,"

"Thanks for coming in," Maeve says politely, sliding everything over to him. He grabs the box and his donut and Carson reaches for her cupcake, and Lou hangs back a minute as they make for the door. "Sorry," She says, in the same, distant tone. He frowns- what could she possibly have to apologize for? "Was there anything else I could get for you today?"

Oh. That-that was not what he was expecting. She sounds...she sounds off. "No," He shakes his head. "I'll..." He pauses. "I'll catch you later this week."

"I'll be here," She says, but when she smiles, it doesn't quite have the same brightness as usual and Lou nods confusedly as he makes his goodbyes to her.

Carson and James are waiting outside and Lou gives them an annoyed look as soon as he sees them again. "You dicks."

"Well we wouldn't have had to sneak here if you'd just let us meet her!" James exclaims. "She's so nice!"

"No thanks to you two," Lou mutters.

Carson frowns. "What happened?"

"Nothing," He shakes his head. "Let's just go find a place to apparate," James starts off down the road and Lou gets one last look at Maeve before Carson's pulling him along.

He's pretty sure that was a frown on her face and he hates seeing it there.


End file.
